Textures loading nearby since update...?

  • A bit worrying: it seems I am seeing a lot of nearby loading of textures (and mesh?) since the last update. This reminds me a lot of FSX/P3D and that's not a good thing. I flew over the grand canyon with the Airbus and saw things popping up very frequently and very close to the plane too.

    I took the screenshot below a split second after the canyon in front of me was partially 'updated' which is a LOT closer than what I am used to in AFS2. Kind of immersion killing. In the past I hardly ever saw things being loaded! But now I see it all the time.

    I hope the improvement in performance wasn't achieved by loading things later on...? This is one of the selling points of AFS2 (compared to other sims).

    EDIT
    I disabled the beta and I am seeing the same popping up. Maybe this has to do with the grand canyon... or maybe I simply missed this before...? I always told others how great AFS2 is when it comes to having no pop up...! I will try a flight elsewhere and see if I get this popping up there too.

    EDIT 2

    Hm, I am seeing similar things happening elsewhere too. Maybe I didn't notice it like this before because 1. I usually fly the Dash 8 which gives you less time to look around, 8), 2. I was flying quite low over the canyons, 3. the contrast between light and dark is pretty big above the canyons so loading is more obvious then near (for instance) San Fransisco, 4. I am paying more attention to it now after the update. ;) Still, there is more pop up than I thought. I will have to stop saying on the forums I visit that AFS2 doesn't have popup.

    Edited 3 times, last by J van E (July 2, 2018 at 11:51 AM).

  • I have noticed it previously with the A320, but even then it's not that noticeable unless you're going fast and closer to the ground. Otherwise I never see it, not at slower speeds on approach and not high above. Not a problem at all, I'm not planning to VFR with an A320 anytime soon. This kind of pop in is still incredibly superior to other sims.

    - Ashley

    P3D v4 / AFS2 / XP11 | Intel i7-4790K oc'ed @ 4.6GHz | 16GB RAM | 8GB Nvidia GTX1070 | Windows 10 64-bit | Oculus Rift

  • This kind of pop in is still incredibly superior to other sims.

    Yes, agreed: I didn't want to imply AFS2 is having problems like P3D does! ;) But still, since it's one of my biggest problems with P3D I am a bit sensitive to popping... ;)

  • I am sorry for bringing this up again but I really have the impression that after the last update things are being loaded into view more obviously... All around me I see higher resolution textures, bits and pieces of scenery, suddenly and instantly being loaded. I just can't remember seeing this before at all and I've been flying AFS2 for quite some time now. Does no one else notice this (that it has become worse)? It really distracts me and spoils the immersion. (Flying in 2D here: in VR you might not notice it that much because it's all pixelated and 'moving' all the time anyway.) Again, it's nowhere near as bad as in FSX/P3D but still... I loved AFS2 also because of its rock steady scenery. It just isn't that rock steady anymore.

  • I am sorry for bringing this up again but I really have the impression that after the last update things are being loaded into view more obviously... All around me I see higher resolution textures, bits and pieces of scenery, suddenly and instantly being loaded. I just can't remember seeing this before at all and I've been flying AFS2 for quite some time now. Does no one else notice this (that it has become worse)? It really distracts me and spoils the immersion. (Flying in 2D here: in VR you might not notice it that much because it's all pixelated and 'moving' all the time anyway.) Again, it's nowhere near as bad as in FSX/P3D but still... I loved AFS2 also because of its rock steady scenery. It just isn't that rock steady anymore.

    yes, i have seen similar.

  • If you can describe in more detail what you mean and can show test cases, we will have a look at it.

    Well, there is not much to add to what I said already but let's try again. ;) When I fly I see textures loading and mesh changing. So for instance a mountain ridge may suddenly and instantly show more detail. Unfortunately I don't do video's because that would show it the best but I tried to capture it in pictures. (See below.) It doesn't happen constantly but often enough to be very noticable, specially when you mainly look outside. As long as you are busy scanning the instruments you don't notice it that much. Anyway, in the past I never ever noticed it... which I loved about AFS2. This loading of textures reminds me of FSX/P3d though not as bad, of course, but it happens all the time, not just once every few minutes.

    If you download these two shots (you can't really see the difference here) and switch between them quickly, you will see (amongst others) the mountains in the red circle (only visible on one picture) will change: the tops change shape a bit, the shadows move a little, the white line on top suddenly becomes shaded, the stone parts move around some, a part where there was a flat shadow now shows more detail, etc. Obviously the second picture (without the red circle) is a bit closer to the mountains so that also changes the view, but you can clearly see the surface of the tops is different. This is happening all the time and quite distracting, specially because it always happens instantly and not smoothly.

    PS BTW It is reproducable: whenever I reposition my plane and fly the same part over again the changes happen at the same time in the same spot. I added a picture of the location of this example as an attachement. It happens everywhere else too though.

    • Official Post

    Ah ok, you see the discrete steps in the elevation model. This has been there since day 1, you migh want to look at a different product for a few month again, to recalibrate yourself.

    We could ‘fix’ this, but haven’t done it yet as it would require some extra GPU memory, but we don’t want to break anything for users with slower 3D cards.

    So the next version might introduce an improvement here, but it depends on our priority list.

  • Ah ok, you see the discrete steps in the elevation model. This has been there since day 1, you migh want to look at a different product for a few month again, to recalibrate yourself.

    We could ‘fix’ this, but haven’t done it yet as it would require some extra GPU memory, but we don’t want to break anything for users with slower 3D cards.

    So the next version might introduce an improvement here, but it depends on our priority list.

    LOL recalibrate, yes, well, I like AFS2 so much that I haven’t fired up another sim in quite some time. In fact, AFS2 is the only sim I have installed. I don’t plan on installing another sim just to recalibrate myself but I know what you mean. ;)

    Anyway, I have a GTX1080 with a lot of memory so a ‘fix’ would be VERY much appreciated! ;) Good to know it is possible to improve this!

    My advice if you implement this option (which I am sure a lot of people will like!): let AFS2 check the available memory of the GPU and then ONLY show this option to those who do have the needed memory. (I am sure it is possible to enable and disable settings depending on hardware.) This way people with slower cards won’t have the option to enable this option (and then start moaning about bad performance). ;) That will prevent a lot of ‘support’. ;) Maybe this idea may put this ‘fix’ a bit higher on your priority list...? ;)

  • Thanks, don’t take the recalibrate advice to serious. The check for more memory is an option, but nowadays, with orbx netherland around the corner, it doesn’t help much to check for memory at startup, as the memory usage during ‘gameplay’ various considerably and we need to be very careful not to sacrifice performance on lower end systems.

    Anyway, we know about this and we know what to do against it, we just don’t consider it high priority at this time.

  • Just to make my idea a bit more clear: I meant to say that AFS2 should check the hardware for the installed memory on the GPU, not the currently available memory that may change on the fly indeed. So the idea was to only make the fix available on the option screen for those who have for instance 8 GB or more on their GPU. Everyone else, with less memory installed on the GPU, wouldn’t even see that option and hence not be able to use it and hence not get into performance problems. But anyway, I understand it isn’t a priority right now. It’s good to know nothing is wrong on my system and also that maybe this will be improved in the future.

  • I have actually been noticing this a bit more, and indeed it does break the immersion a little.

    Glad I am not the only one noticing this. I was really wondering why I didn't notice this before because it's really very obvious. I am very 'sensitive' to this and I can't imagine flying in AFS2 for 'years' without noticing it. IPACS may not have changed anything here but perhaps some other change(s) caused this to perform worse or more obvious...